The Bahrain paddock was usually a place of high-class exclusivity. Rolex watches, Italian suits, and polite applause.
Tonight, it was a zoo.
The race was over, but the show wasn't.
Part 1: The Debt
Ye Tian walked out of the media pen. He wasn't heading to the team hospitality unit for a massage.
He was heading toward the back exit of the Media Center.
There, a figure was trying to sneak away. A man with a press badge from The Daily Speed.
Hans. The German reporter who, yesterday, had called Team Hawk garbage.
"Hey! Hans!"
Ye Tian's voice wasn't loud. But it stopped Hans dead in his tracks.
"Mr... Mr. Ye." Hans turned around, sweating bullets. "Great race. Truly. I... I have a plane to catch."
Ye Tian leaned against the wall, sipping a Red Bull.
"The plane can wait. The internet cannot."
He pointed to the crowd of cameramen and fans gathering. They knew the bet.
"Three laps. Naked. Shouting 'FX needs Chinese Speed'."
Ye Tian smiled. It was the smile of a devil collecting a soul.
Ten minutes later, the internet broke again.
A chubby German reporter, wearing only running shoes and a pixelated blur over his dignity, jogged past the Ferrari motorhome, screaming in humiliation.
Ye Tian watched from the balcony, satisfied.
Debt paid.
Part 2: The Hotel Room
Meanwhile, at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain.
Snow Jiang swipe her keycard and entered her room.
She was exhausted. Her clothes were still damp from the rain. Her hair was a mess.
But she didn't care.
She carefully placed the heavy object she was carrying onto the desk.
It wasn't her laptop. It wasn't her camera.
It was a magnum bottle of Ferrari Trento. The Cork was still sealed.
The label was scratched. The glass was smudged with rain and fingerprints.
Ye Tian's fingerprints.
Snow sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the bottle like it was a bomb.
"Jerk," she whispered.
She touched the glass. It was cold now, but she could swear she still felt the warmth of his hands when he shoved it into her arms.
"Only you are qualified to keep it for me."
"Wifey."
The memory of his voice on the team radio—lazy, arrogant, possessive—played in her head on a loop.
She buried her face in her hands.
"God, Snow. Pull yourself together. You are a professional journalist from CCTV. He is just... a driver."
But he wasn't just a driver.
She remembered the salute before the rain. The way he controlled that sliding car like a monster. The way he stood on the podium, soaked and triumphant, looking at the flag.
For years, she had been the "Ice Queen." Men were intimidated by her. They treated her like a porcelain doll or a fierce boss.
Ye Tian was the first man who dared to tease her on global television.
He treated her like... his woman.
Buzz.
Her phone lit up. It was her editor back in Beijing.
Editor: "Snow! Great job on the interview! The ratings are insane! We need a 2000-word feature article on Ye Tian by morning. Focus on his patriotism and technical skills."
Snow sighed. She opened her laptop.
She typed the title: The Miracle of Bahrain: How Ye Tian Conquered the Rain.
She deleted it.
She typed again: The Mad Dog of the East.
She deleted it.
She looked at the champagne bottle again. A small smile, rare and beautiful, crept onto her lips.
She typed a new title:
The Man Who Predicted the Storm.
"Fine," she murmured to the empty room, looking at the bottle. "I'll keep it for you. But if you crash in Jeddah... I'm drinking this whole bottle to celebrate your failure."
She knew she was lying.
Part 3: The System Harvest
Back at the Team Hawk motorhome.
Ye Tian was unaware that he was keeping the Ice Queen awake. He was busy counting his own loot.
"System," he whispered. "Settlement."
[DING!]
[Race Settlement Complete.]
Achievement: First Chinese Winner (+100,000 Shock Points) Achievement: Slapping World Champions (+50,000 Shock Points)Achievement: Flirting on Live TV (Snow Jiang's Heart Rate > 120bpm) (+30,000 Shock Points)Total Balance: 245,000 Shock Points.
"Wait," Ye Tian raised an eyebrow. "I get points for her heart rate?"
[System: Establishing dominance over the opposite sex is also a form of Shock.]
"Good System."
Ye Tian opened the [System Store].
He needed to prepare for the next battle. Bahrain was a slow, technical track.
The next stop was Jeddah. The fastest street circuit on Earth. A concrete cage where average speeds hit 250 km/h.
Skill: Tire Whisperer (Permanent) - 50,000 Points. (Bought).
Item: Engine Reliability Fix (Permanent) - 100,000 Points. (Bought).
Item: Aero Upgrade Blueprint (Low Drag Spec) - 80,000 Points. (Bought).
[Purchase Successful.]
[Car Potential Updated: Top 5 (Dry Conditions).]
Ye Tian felt a surge of knowledge entering his brain.
Blueprints. Diagrams. Airflow structures.
He knew exactly how to fix the Hawk's draggy front wing.
"Ye!"
Koma ran over, waving a contract. "Generic Motors called! They want to sponsor us! We have money!"
Ye Tian stood up, crushing his empty can.
"Use the money. Build the new wing I just sketched."
"But Ye... Jeddah is dangerous," Koma warned. "The walls are close. If you push there like you did here..."
Ye Tian walked to the window. He looked North.
"Koma."
"In Bahrain, I drove a tractor."
"In Jeddah... I'm going to build a missile."